It would take a bit of effort and some fairly tortuous reverse engineering to see "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)," which continues in limited release this week and expands next week, as anything but a departure for director Alejandro González Iñárritu, or Alejandro G. Iñárritu as his current incarnation is called. Indeed, formally it’s almost the Platonic opposite of his previous films, seemingly unfolding in one breathless, unbroken take and moving ever forward in time in a manner that, compared to the shifting perspectives and jumbled chronology that characterize the majority of his films, feels refreshingly linear.
Still, one element of his directorial approach remains constant, despite occasionally disheveled structures and blunt thematics: his ability to get very strong performances from his cast. Michael Keaton, whose turn in "Birdman" is truly of the career-relaunching variety (check out our 10...
